


Injured

by vakarian_shepard



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, Sort of - Fandom
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, sorta?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 03:38:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8562187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vakarian_shepard/pseuds/vakarian_shepard
Summary: The Calling eats away at the Hero of Ferelden, and it terrifies Zevran.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Sort of connected to [Blighted](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8561776).

It terrified him. It did.

The farther they got into the West, the worse her Calling seemed to get. He hadn’t realized quite how bad it had gotten, really, as brave a face she managed to put on all the time. Sometimes she cried late at night, because the singing was too loud and she just wanted to sleep. He didn’t know what to do at times like that, but it seemed to help when he held her close and sang for her.

But that wasn’t the part that _really_ scared him.

The last time he saw her scar, it was only a little red and swollen. It was months ago now, though—the night he found her goodbye letter and confronted her about it, in fact. Right before they disappeared into the night together to look for a cure.

Kira usually woke up before him, no matter where they were, restless to the core. On good days, she kissed him awake. On bad days, he found her in front of the fire, staring with cold, empty eyes as the flames danced in front of her. 

He wasn’t sure what kind of day today was, but it wasn’t a good one. 

Her shirt had shifted in her sleep, the inn they were staying in warm and comfortable enough that she wasn’t wearing six layers of clothes. The curtains in the inn were dark, so the room was still very, very dark, even as the sunlight peeked out from under the windows. 

Half asleep, Zevran hadn’t even realized they weren’t back home in their bed in Vigil’s Keep at first, sliding his arm around her waist with a quiet, contented sigh, pressing his forehead to her back. A few seconds after he did that, he realized that something was off. Her breath was shallow and quick, and her skin was much too hot. Heart leaping into his throat, he sat up and really looked at the skin he could see on her back.

It took him a moment to realize what he was looking at was her scar, because it almost looked like a tattoo. Some time either in the night or in the past few weeks, the thin white lines had gone from red to black, some of them creeping up towards her face, like spidery, poisoned veins. 

Panicking now, he shook her shoulder as gently as he could. “Kira. Kira, wake up.”

She mumbled something, tensing up as he touched the darkened lines on her shoulder. 

“ _Kira_ ,” he insisted, voice a bit raw as his emotions fought to get the best of him. 

She hummed then, groaning softly as she turned towards him blearily. “’S wrong, Zev?”

“Your _back_ ,” he choked, and that woke her up a little more. 

“…Oh.”

“Can you move? Does it hurt?” he asked softly, gently tracing the lines he could see.

He got his answer in the way she gasped, flinching away from him. Desperate suddenly, she pulled her sleep shirt over her head, kicking the blanket down and rolling onto her stomach with a hiss. She sniffled into the pillow, half a sob breaking free as she lay there waiting for the pain to subside.

Her entire back looked like the edge he’d seen. The strange, tree-like scar wasn’t made up of small, slightly raised white lines anymore—it was black, the skin around some of the larger lines an angry red. Hands hovering uselessly over her back, he asked tightly, “What do I do, _amor_? What _can_ I do?”

She turned her head towards him to breathe, eyes squeezed shut as she whimpered. “Ah—in my bag. The salve I bought yesterday…”

Zevran was already moving before she trailed off, dumping the bag out on the floor to find the tiny container as quickly as possible. He returned to her side with it, unscrewing the cap to reveal the bluish salve as he asked, “What is in this?”

“Andraste’s Grace, elfroot, um…stuff like that,” she replied. “Just put it on, please?”

He did as she asked, trying to be as gentle as possible as he traced over the larger part of the scar in the middle of her back. She whimpered when he first touched her, burying her face in the pillow. He winced with her, but didn’t stop. As the salve sunk into her skin, she started to relax again, sighing softly in relief. The lines began to fade, looking less angry and more like regular veins, the red parts fading all together. By the time he got to her lower back, her breathing had slowed and deepened, and her fever seemed to be gone.

She turned her head towards him when he set the container aside and laid down next to her again. 

“So that worked, then,” she said conversationally, grinning when he laughed a little hysterically. “I’ll need to buy more of that, and maybe just some Andraste’s Grace in general. I’ve got some ideas.”

“Shall I carry you to market, my love?”

Kira snorted, giggling a little, and the knot of anxiety in his chest eased a little. “We’ll see how I feel later.”

Leaning in to kiss her softly, he didn’t move away as far as he asked, “How is the singing?”

“Quiet,” she murmured. “It was loud when you woke me up, but it’s—far away, now. I can’t even really hear it unless I focus on it.”

He smiled, leaning in to press his forehead to hers. “ _Good_.”

“Love you, Zev.”

“I love you, too.”


End file.
